Today we will talk about the supplements designed for weight loss and, in particular, we will try to understand together WHAT THEY ARE and HOW they work!
Food supplements are products designed to ENSURE the intake of certain "hypothetically" LACKING nutrients in the diet. In summary, they should OPTIMIZE the GENERAL psycho-physical state of health even if, as we will see in the next slides, this requirement is not always completely GUARANTEED!
Today we know that the WEIGHT EXCESS of the fat mass, and in particular of that in the ABDOMINAL area, is to be considered a real DISEASE! It predisposes the body to a series of RISKS such as: metabolic diseases and VASCULOPATHIES, CANCER and RTICULAR DISEASES. However, observing "the other SIDE of the MEDAL", among the population there emerges an EXCESSIVE CONCERN towards their BODY IMAGE. This perception is NEVER healthy and seems to favor some types of EMOTIONAL discomfort that often predispose to: EXCESSIVELY RESTRICTIVE DIETS, OBSESSIVE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY and ABUSE of FOOD SUPPLEMENTS for SLIMMING; the result is obviously a more or less serious and evident nutritional imbalance. So: BEWARE of EXCESSES! Losing weight can be as beneficial as it is harmful!
The ECONOMIC importance of this sector has resulted in an amazing development of the OFFER, to say the least. It is a BUSINESS that, while moving huge amounts of money on the one hand, on the other hand, POCO protects the health of its consumers; to be honest, weight loss supplements are all products that are as effective as possible! This statement, which at first glance might seem too SEVERE, is the result of a MORE personal consideration HOWEVER based on a given OBJECTIVE, that is, that NO SUPPLEMENT TO SLIMMING WORKS WITHOUT THE APPLICATION OF A CUSTOMIZED DIET AND AN APPROPRIATE PROTOCOL OF PHYSICAL SPORTS ACTIVITY! Having said that ... and remembering that supplements are NOT DRUGS ... let's proceed with the classification of products available on the market based on their MECHANISM OF ACTION. Generally speaking, weight loss supplements can be differentiated into: THERMOGENESIS STIMULATORS NERVINS, THYROID ACTIVITY STIMULATORS, CARNITINE, MODULATING ABSORPTION SZIANTI, and REDUCERS OF DIGESTION and ABSORPTION OF ENERGY NUTRIENTS. The SUBSTITUTE MEALS will be deliberately omitted which, apart from it, will enjoy a totally dedicated movie.
SYNEPHRINE, CAFFEINE, GUARANINE, THEOBROMINE and many more! These molecules, mainly available in MIXED formulas, should be able to promote thermogenesis, or to promote the body's BASAL calorie consumption. These are essentially sympathetic-mimetic AMINES capable of simulating and stimulating the hormonal action of physiological CATECOLAMINS. In practice: they mobilize the lipids of adipose tissue, "should" increase their consumption, and increase cardiac action and nervous excitability. One of these, EPHEDRINE, is considered a real AMPHETAMINE and therefore (in Italy), given its danger, it is NOT among the over-the-counter products for weight loss. The most frequent side effects of stimulating nerves are: insomnia, headache, tachycardia, gastritis and diarrhea.
The "raw materials" from which the nerves already described are extracted are mainly: green and black coffee; green, black and oolong tea, guarana, bitter cocoa, mate, and bitter orange. The effectiveness and side effects of these products are lower than the extracted and isolated active ingredients.
These on the slide are completely different from the category already described. The stimulators of thyroid activity have the aim of stimulating the secretion or activation of the hormones responsible for INCREASING the basal metabolism. These are very different active ingredients, namely: IODIUM, SELENIUM, FORSKOLINA AND GUGGULSTERONI. Iodine is a mineral that underlies the production of the hormones T3 (the most active) and T4 (the least active), while selenium participates in the conversion of T3 into T4. Forskolin seems to naturally promote the thyroid secretion of both and, for their part, guggulsterones should enhance the transformation of the NON-active form into the ACTIVE one. As for iodine and selenium, the effectiveness of the supplement depends above all on their level of intake with food (whether sufficient or low); on the contrary, guggulsterones and forskolin find greater application during low calorie diets in order to support the thyroid in its physiological activity. The side effects of excess iodine and selenoo are much more important than those of nerves: for iodine there is a significant increase in the risk of GOZZO, while excess selenium is highly TOXIC. The excess of the other two essentially causes manifestations of digestive INTOLERANCE. Iodine, besides being available in isolated form, is strongly present in marine algae such as FUCUS and LAMINARIA; on the contrary, forskolin and gugglulsterones are typical of some terrestrial plants.
Carnitine is a NON essential amino acid and its function in the body is mainly to favor the entry of long-chain fatty acids into the mitochondria, where they will subsequently be oxidized. It is a molecule that the body synthesizes independently from methionine and lysine, therefore (in the case of proper nutrition) its integration is completely useless. The side effects of excess are gastrointestinal in nature.
The satiating modulators of absorption are essentially made up of food FIBERS. These are found in plant products such as: PSYLLIUM, GUAR GUM, KARAYA GUM, BRAN, AGAR AGAR etc. These compounds, in addition to promoting the reduction of food intake, exert a real modulation of nutritional uptake in the small intestine; moreover, the fibers prevent constipation and (almost all) show a marked PREbiotic function on the bacterial flora of the colon. From the "slimming" point of view, these supplements allow you to reduce total heat, reduce the glycemic index of meals and also have a positive effect on overall lipid absorption. Side effects essentially involve diarrhea and nutritional malabsorption.
ACARBOSE and CHITOSAN belong to the last category; the first hinders the absorption of carbohydrates, while the second that of fatty acids. The first is an oligosaccharide of microbial origin which, taken with the meal, binds to digestive enzymes and it prevents these from degrading the carbohydrates of foods. Chitosan, on the other hand, is a polysaccharide extracted from the shell of crustaceans that tends to retain fats and hinders intestinal absorption. Both owe their effectiveness to the type of diet which, if too energetic, in addition to causing a rather annoying intestinal symptoms, it nullifies its use.
